Many houses and other buildings are provided with rain gutters at the edge of the building to collect rain water from the roof of the building. Gutters prevent water from falling off the roof and dropping onto flower beds or plants commonly provided adjacent the building, thereby minimizing damage to the plants. The gutter normally channels the rain which falls on the roof to a downspout, which then discharges the water at a location which typically results in the rapid flow of water to a municipal storm system, thereby also minimizing flooding adjacent the building.
Those familiar with gutters have long recognized that conventional rain gutters work well in areas where the vegetation is lower than the elevation of the gutters, but that gutters typically plug with leaves and pine needles in locations with large trees. Also, balls and other toys may become lodged in a gutter, effectively obstructing normal rain water flow through the gutter system. Numerous types of gutter coverings have thus been proposed for alleviating these problems, although no prior art gutter cover has been particularly successful. Accordingly, homeowners frequently still spend weekends cleaning debris out of rain gutters. Unfortunately, many individuals do not possess the desired equipment or are inexperienced with safety procedures, and often fall or hurt themselves performing this cleaning operation.
Various types of gutter covers have been proposed over the last hundred years. Numerous devices are intended to function only in conjunction with a specially made gutter, and thus have limited acceptance since most people want a covering which will operate with their existing, relatively inexpensive gutter system. U.S. Pat. No. 546,042 discloses a gutter cover used with a gutter not commonly used today, although this cover could be modified for use with a conventional gutter. A gutter cover that extends partially under the lower edge of the roofing material and terminates prior to the outward edge of the gutter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,791. Clips or straps interconnect the forward edge of the cover with the outer portion of the gutter. Leaves may thus become trapped between the forward edge of the cover and the gutter. A lower edge of the cover curls downward, and water follows the curvature to drain into the gutter. As with other types of gutter covers, leaf buildup within the gutter may be minimized by using these devices, although the horizontal or lateral spacing between the forward edge of the cover and the exterior edge of the gutter still allows leaves and other debris to fall into the gutter. Also, leaves may become easily trapped between the forward edge of the cover and the gutter, thereby blocking normal flow of water into the gutter. Accordingly, these types of covers functionally are similar to a mesh covering which allows water to fall through small holes and into the gutter, while leaves pass over the mesh and fall to the ground. Mesh-type gutter covers have been used, although leaves often become trapped on top of the mesh so that rain water passes over the trapped leaves and does not drop into the gutter.
Various gutter covers project laterally from the side of the building so that the forward edge of the cover is at or extends laterally beyond the outer edge of the gutter, thereby preventing leaves or other debris from falling into the gutter. Rain water may be returned toward the building and thus fall into the gutter by a lower inclined portion of the, covering, utilizing surface tension to return the water back toward the building and into the gutter. U.S. Pat. No. 891,405 discloses a gutter covering of this type, with holes in the lowermost portion of the gutter cover allowing water to drop into the gutter. Surface tension is also used to return water toward the building and thus into the gutter in U.S. Pat. No. 2,669,950, although the specially made gutters illustrated in this patent are positioned entirely beneath the roof overhang of the building. A plurality of spaced apart ribs may be used for preventing leaves from adhering to the inclined lower surface of a cover, while surface tension transmits the rain water to the gutter. U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,649 discloses a gutter cover which also relies upon surface tension to return water to the gutter, and optionally include raised ribs to lift the leaves off the planar surface of the gutter to increase the likelihood of the leaves promptly falling to the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,755 discloses yet another type of gutter cover which relies upon surface tension to return water to the gutter. Ridges are used to support the cover on the outer portion of the gutter.
Other types of rain gutter covers utilize various types of ribs to slow down the velocity of water or otherwise divert the water passing into the gutter. U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,775 discloses a rain gutter cover with a plurality of laterally spaced ribs or crowns upstream from the curved portion of the gutter, which relies upon surface tension to return water to the gutter. U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,835 discloses a device for receiving a liquid into an elongate trough, along with ribs for reducing the vertical velocity components of the liquid when it enters the trough. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,950,951, 4,435,925, 4,667,448, and 5,181,350 each also disclose different types of coverings for rain gutters.
The prior art has long recognized the benefit of a gutter cover which separates rain water from leaves and other debris, allowing the water to drop into the gutter while the leaves and debris fall to the ground. The existing patents do not disclose devices which are in wide use today, primarily because these prior art gutter covers are not effective at fulfilling this function.
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, and an improved device is hereinafter disclosed for automatically separating a fluid from solid matter within the fluid. The device of the present invention is particularly well suited for use as a gutter cover for directing rain water into the gutter while allowing leaves and other debris to bypass the gutter and fall to the ground.